Bug Android module slowing down Editor for non-Android projects now on Unity 2021

Edit: Issue tracker now here https://issuetracker.unity3d.com/is...r-a-few-seconds-with-scanning-for-usb-devices

I've submitted a bug report about this (case 1349380) but QA doesn't see this is as a bug so reporting here for awareness.

Basically what happens now on 2021.2 is that if you happened to install Android module along with the engine version you use, every project - regardless if it targets android or not - will get stalled on every project load for ~4 seconds for scanning USB devices by Android Extension. This can sometimes happen even when the editor has loaded the project - despite you never needing this on a Windows project for example.

I do wonder why this isn't seen as an issue because it's a clear regression, this didn't happen on 2020.3. Blank 3D project loads in 6 seconds on my rig using 2020.3 and 2021.2 takes 10 seconds to load because of the extra time taken by Android Extension. Of course those few extra seconds are not that long but it gets old quickly + it really annoys you when it happens while doing other things inside the editor.

Only way to counter this is to just simply not install Android support for the editor version you are using for your Windows etc projects..

 

Because despite their many blog posts, they appear to not care about their users' time.

Isn't there a way to disable Android debugging / Extension? Feels like this should be a thing that is explicitly activated by a checkbox or something, even if your project is set to Android.

 

I'd love to know if there's some way to do this manually. All I see in editor preferences is the Android SDK etc path settings.

Sorry for the tone but it still amazes me that Unity can't do naive platform check before performing Android specific operations, it makes one wonder if they are just stubborn to not make it work or really don't know how to solve this because on paper it feels like really easy thing to solve if there is will to do so.

For the time being, I've removed Android support on all 2021 engine versions now. I'll just use one 2020.3 version for my Quest prototyping so it won't interfere with actual work I do (it really shouldn't be like this).

 

Pinging @LeonhardP because this seems to be a beta regression

 

Thanks Leonhard for following up here, looking forward to more on this.

To add to what Olento said, while fixing connectivity issues is certainly welcome, it shouldn't lead to occassional freezing editor interruptions (as right now, randomly popping up connectivity progress bar that takes 3-5s), no matter if someone is working on an Android project or not.

(and a side note, the profiling experience on Android isn't great - seems the profiler isn't able to figure out which open editor instance tries to connect to a device, routing messages and profiling data to the wrong instance(s) with a totally different project open and where profiling isn't even enabled. But that's a separate discussion and most likely a future bug report )

 

They did open issue tracker for this now so that's progress
https://issuetracker.unity3d.com/is...r-a-few-seconds-with-scanning-for-usb-devices

I do stress that while the issue itself says it's for project load, it randomly happens during other actions on the project too.

 

This sounds good to me. I did wonder in the first place why it was a blocking operation even.

Thanks for clearing this up. The response I got sounded more like it's "by design" without implying nothing is going to change about it

So this happens every time now if I for example plug in an usb game controller? Faulty cables are always a possibility but I don't have many in use in the first place and those that are always attached are going to my mouse + keyboard so I would notice if they got dropped out occasionally (they don't).

 

Thanks for responding @MartinTilo!

Regarding the "this should really only happen if USB connections change", the thing is that for any Quest VR development the USB connection changes often. E.g. when switching from Quest+Link to device, the connection might be gone for a moment. When Quest goes to sleep, the connection might be gone for a moment. When Link is lost the cable needs to be unplugged and plugged in again to get it back to work, causing a connection change.

So, "often-changing connection" is kind of by design for working with a detachable headset, and thus for that type of work this is pretty annoying. Great to hear you're working on making this async (again).

 

+1 here. This is very annoying issue. Only solution works for me is uninstalling android module. Modal "scanning USB devices" dialog blocks all of Unity menu including "Report a bug".

 

We suddenly started experiencing this issue in 2021.2.5f1 today (macOS Intel version - haven't seen it yet on the M1 version, yet). =|

We don't want Unity to talk to ADB at all. We have our own custom code to interface with ADB, to install & launch our app, etc (via custom editor windows and/or build pipeline code). Right now though, it's constantly scanning (and re-scanning), with 2-3 "tasks" running (bottom-right status bar area) to scan for devices.

We're also intermittently getting log warnings in console due to our dev machine being connected to >1 ADB device (via our own doing, not Unity's) -- that'll spew 3-5 LogWarning messages, crushing framerates & making routine development a chore.

All Profiler stuff is turned off, no builds are out there with 'auto-connect profiling' enabled, etc... Have checked all settings I can think of & find, so far no dice, continually seeing it 'scan for ADB devices' -- all windows are closed except the main editor window (ie no 'Build' window, no Profiler window, etc).

Plz fix.

Edit to add -- We *never* use ADB via USB connection. We're always using it via TCP/LAN and, generally, we're targeting N>3 devices when we run our [custom] install/run code. We just want Unity to not do *anything* with ADB. We don't mind going to extra-long lengths to turn on via-ADB profiling once we get to the optimization stage -- we just need to be able to get to that stage, but it's slow going with "multiple tasks" ("Android.ScanForAdb - Pooling [sic] ADB for connected devices") running constantly. =|

 

Updated to 2021.2.6f1 (macOS Intel) -- issue persists. Appears it doesn't happen until the 'Build Settings' menu is opened once, then it continues spamming the "refresh" tasks forever thereafter until you exit/re-open Unity editor completely.

As long as you don't pull up the Unity build UI, it *appears* to not occur. Will see if manually triggering build makes it happen or not; thus far we had been using the build window to create the builds & then our own custom tooling (editor window) that searched for ADB devices, showed a list of them with checkboxes, and had "install" / "run" / "logcat" / etc. commands [ie so you can batch-run commands against numerous Android devices].

If anyone has any ideas on preventing the issue, all ears -- til then, will just restart Unity after every build (argh - build times on this app are under 10-seconds, Unity relaunch approximately takes longer than that, heh). =]

 

I'm only seeing it happen intermittently -- had it occurring last night, saw your reply from my laptop & was going to try to send a repro of it today, but this AM it isn't occurring [haven't opened or closed Unity at all].

Idk if it's because I have numerous ADB connections going or what. It'd be great to get a setting somewhere to just "turn off scanning" as a stop-gap, though (plus I don't want scanning anyways, would far prefer to manage ADB connections myself -- and the built-in ADB stuff appears to fail, or at least some of it fails, when you have multiple [LAN-connected] ADB devices connected too, at least in 2021.2.7f1).

LMK if I can help -- but submitting project as-is = doesn't repro reliably. The issue does exist & persist, however. =|

Best advice to repro it would be to get a few Android devices on your LAN, ADB connect to them directly/via terminal, and then play with the Build window or run an Android build [not to the device, just output it locally]. Pretty sure you'll hit it just by doing that.

 

I just started seeing this. I am using Unity 2021.3.2f1. I gather this can be related to what USB devices are connected; I have a USB MIDI controller that has only been connected to the system since yesterday. (It is not used in Unity for anything.)

I am not even building for Android, the Build Settings are set for iOS. According to the log, even when not in Play mode I am seeing the following messages:

Scanning for USB devices : 1.008ms
Attempted to call .Dispose on an already disposed CancellationTokenSource
Scanning for USB devices : 2.587ms
Android Extension - Scanning For ADB Devices 3946 ms

When I am in play mode, the scene pauses and stutters whenever the "scanning for ADB devices" appears at the bottom of the window. The audio also stops and starts and, if I continue, eventually the audio stops and never starts again. At that point the Unity editor can't play any sound, even if I exit play mode and try to play a sound asset in the editor. I have to completely quit Unity and reopen the project to get sound back.

 

unity 2021.1.16f1 crashes after connect Corsair's iCUE Nexus USB device. When enter game play mode. 100% occurs.
Now Even after connect Nintendo switch pro controller bluetooth connected.

 

I am seeing this background task starting randomnly while testing a non-Android project, I'm on Unity 2021.3.1f1. The issue tracker link mentioned at the top of this thread says it's fixed in 2022.1.X, 2021.2.X

Just thought in bringing it to your attention.

 

Not sure if this is the same bug, but I'm experiencing builds hanging indefinitely when the "Scanning For ADB Devices" log message appears. I first noticed the issue in Cloud Build, where my iOS builds were hanging for hours. I tried replicating the issue locally following this doc and indeed, local iOS batchmode builds are also hanging for hours; I have to just cancel them. This is on Unity 2021.3.10f1. The bug report says that this issue is fixed in 2021.2.x so I assumed it would also be fixed in 2021.3.x. @LeonhardP is that incorrect? Do I actually need to downgrade to 2021.2 or upgrade to 2022.1 in order to prevent builds hanging while scanning for ADB devices?

 

@G_Wojo Thanks for responding. Based on my comment and @Forest3's, it sounds like this issue was never fixed in 2021.3.x. Maybe this was a regression from 2021.2? Alternatively, my iOS-build-hanging issue might be a new/separate one from the slow-Editor issues reported in this thread, as you said. If that's the case, would you prefer that I start a separate thread?

 

I get this issue ( Android Extension - Scanning For ADB Devices....) running 2021.3.14 whenever I connect my phone for testing.

I used to be able to just let it finish its business, but it takes longer and longer for it to wrap up. Just now I connected my device and within a minute there was over a 20 background tasks firing off scanning for ADB devices

Very annoying, but now, it's blocking me. I really would love to not have to close Unity, connect my device, copy over an APK, just to play test.

 

No worries @G_Wojo , turns out it was related to Windows usb driver issue.

 

@G_Wojo Could you update this thread when you backport that fix? I'm still getting related issues in 2021.3.16f1 on Cloud Build, so it would be great to know when this potential solution drops. Thank you!

 

Is there a fix for this for 2022? I'm on 2022.1.24f1 currently, and have this constantly (Intel Mac, FWIW):



(Edit: I have no Android device connected, only an iPad, and disconnecting it makes no difference)

 

Hm, interesting... I had a USB thumb drive mounted, removing it got rid of the pesky progress thing... There's nothing Android about it, but I suspect it's a more generic USB issue?

 

Is it possible to scan without the command prompts popping up? Frequently I'll be typing code and randomly these prompts pop up taking focus away, usually due to a random controller I have plugged in with a very slightly loose cable.